At the films start, we see Tetsuo and Kaneda fighting with a rival gang, The Clowns. Kaneda is our fearless leader and has the fastest motorcycle of them all. This sequence shows off just how great the animation in Akira is. Motorcycles whiz past each other and taillights blur and have a neat little fading effect. This is very impressive, considering that Akira, a fourteen-year-old movie, is animated better than most of today's films. Age does show in some scenes; every once in a while we get an awkward animation or pause. Not to fear though, as none of them are enough to detract from the film's excellence.

The plot is where the film fails and succeeds. Everything in Akira is symbolic and has a deeper meaning than the surface. This is great for us intellectuals out there; we find that the storyline makes sense to us. For the average Joe, the plot is very, very confusing and people don't understand the end. Some of the anime community feels that Akira is too "artsy" and hard to understand. The movie confuses, in that, viewers tend to believe that the story revolves around Tetsuo and his power hungry, childlike behavior. In all actuality, the movie revolves around Akira and his Neo Tokyo legend. Understanding the legend of Lord Akira is vital to understanding the entire movie, let alone the ending.

The soundtrack to Akira gets stamped with a "good". The main theme consists of strings, brass and percussion, while a choir says, "Kaneda… Tetsuo…" A very good theme. Unfortunately, that is as good as it gets. All other music is either that theme repeated, or not audible. Some viewers/listeners even mistake the background music for background noise. The good portion of the soundtrack is the director new when to not have any music. Small conversations, or little blips of characters are not accompanied with cheesy lyrics or music. Drama is emphasized with silence.

Character design is excellent for the main attractions, but for support characters... sub par. Kaneda and Company look fantastic. Emotions are easily expressed and each character looks drawn for his or her part. Thin eyes for Tetsuo, a big mouth for Kaneda, and neutrality for Akira. The children look deformed and downright gray. The doctor and mayor both look like rats, which is a little disturbing and detracting.

The voice acting has been re-mastered for the re-release. Kaneda is played by the same man who played Vash the Stampede from Trigun, and ironically, Knives from the same series plays Tetsuo. Support characters are played well and do not feel forced or over acted. The main characters are fun to listen to and express feelings well, without overdoing anything. Kaneda's voice can be a little too playful at times, but not enough to ruin the part.

Akira is an overall great movie. As long as viewers can handle the artistic portions of the film, they should feel right at home with another anime. A good, but confusing, storyline keeps things flowing as excellent animations, a good soundtrack, and nice voice acting come together.